Monday, November 26, 2012

PAYING THE PIPER: ELECTORAL FINANCE RULES NEED TO BE RECONSIDERED

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Municipal politics in Canada is a

“depository for the truly mad.”

comedian Rick Mercer

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They are falling like dominoes!

Large, even small, municipal governments spend a lot of
money to operate. The opportunity to get in on lucrative infrastructure projects,
influence municipal zoning laws, commercial tax rates or contract out services
is very tempting for some.

As we have seen in Quebec
and Ontario, some
unscrupulous municipal leaders have found ways to benefit personally from the
offices they hold.

Rob Ford, Toronto’s
loudmouth mayor will find out shortly if he is going to be booted from office
for alleged conflict of interest.

London Ontario’s
mayor, former Liberal MP Joe Fontana, is under pressure to resign after being
charged by police in connection to payments for his son’s 2005 wedding
reception. Fontana
has refused to state who paid the bills. Councilors in that city will debate a
resolution this evening asking that Fontana
step aside.

The London Free Press has reported on issues related to two federal
cheques from Public Works Canada, issued while Fontana was a minister and used to pay for
the wedding reception of his son, Michael, in 2005.
Quebec’s
anti-corruption unit has dug up a multitude of sins in the province’s scandal plagued
construction industry. So far the mayor’s of Laval
and Montreal
have been forced out of office.

Former Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien faced bribery and influence-peddling
charges. He was found not guilty but his political career is in shambles.

Legislation in this province clearly defines conflicts of interest and penalties
for public officials accepting personal gains via the office they sit in. We
have seen a rash of municipal staff charged and convicted for taking from the
community chest.

Fortunately, we have not seen the level of corruption experienced in other jurisdictions. Does it happen here? Do consulting, engineering and paving companies reward municipal politicians? I suppose it could happen here.

The House of Assembly Scandal illustrated that corrupt practices
are not always easy to uncover.

As a jurisdiction that encourages companies to contribute to the political process, one can not help but wonder what donors expect for their investment. Over 40% of the corporate donations raised by the Progressive Conservative Party in 2010 were provided by the province’s construction industry. Why so much? What do they expect in return?

Political donations from companies doing business with government, or hoping to, are strategic investments that they hope will pay off in terms of access to government officials, or favorable policy decisions.

It is one of the reasons why this province needs to rethink how political campaigns are funded at the municipal and provincial level.